B JO-* 
S65 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf -f-^f-Z^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



:E■o:E^ 



Digging Strawberry Plants. 

'l^eelmg in, (Builroafing, f ickmg, IjTandlmg Pickc'-s, 

"Tfallying, ■ Ipackmg ferries, (prates. "\^here 

to-Cpblain ;f^ickers, (parners^ packing 

^hanties and Icfow io T|Tarket. ^_ 



CHICAGO. 
The Bakek-Colt.ings Co., 14-18 S. Canal St. 
1885. 







MAR 23 1885 )1 



n 



Filtered According to Act of Corgress in the year 1885 by 

M. O. SMITH, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 






STRAWBERRY CULTURE, 



Before startini? out to explain my system of handling the Strawberry 
plant and Crop at the present day, I would like to detain you a few mo- 
ments in relating a little of my first experience which no doubt was similar 
to th« way all new beginners commence. I have written this book 
«xpressly for those contemplating setting Strawberries that have 
never had any experience, and those that are already engaged in the 
business. I bought my Farm of 170 acres where I now reside, in 1871, 
solely for the purpose of raising fruit and nothing else, and had I 
known when I commenced w^hat I can tell you to-day about the Strawberry 
business, I could have accomplished as much in five years, as I have in 
fourteen, and I can see now that it would have been worth to me thousands 
of dollars, and I will say to all new beginners and to thousands of them 
alread}^ engaged in the business if they will follow the directions laid 
down in this book, success must crown their efforts. 

AVhen I purchased my Farm in 1871, it was a wilderness except eight 
acre^ which had been set to apples trees some fifteen years before I came 
on the place. I cleared the ground where I had concluded to build my 
house, also the front yard which contained about one acre of ground, 
plowed it the first season and got it ready for Strawberries the next 
spring, engaged my plants, they came tied up fifty in a bundle with a run- 
ner wrapped around them, packed in barrels and so closely packed tha 
they heat badly in the centre of nearly all the bundles, and I lost full 
one-third of the plants ; I had engaged a good supply how^ever so that I 
did not fall short very many plants of having enough to set the piece I had 
prepared. I heeled them in on one side of the piece by digging out a 
trench with a shovel, I then commenced to set by a line just as all new 
beginners do, and thousands of them that have been in the business for 
years, set to day. I used a long handle spade to make the holes with by 
forcing the blade straight down at one side of the line and working the 
handle back and forth until the hole was open enough to receive the 
plant, this way I continued for two and half or three days before I finished 
setting, I thought when I had finished I had accomplished a big undertak- 
ing, and I have never changed my mind; to set even one acre of Straw- 
berry plants by line and with a spade to make the holes is a very tedious 
job. I can set the same ground now with the same help I had then in 
four hours. 

I cultivated them several times that season and the next spring before 
I commenced to pick them, I presume I cultivated them one-half dozen 
limes and think the vines was full one foot high when they wherein bios- 



som. I engaged my crates and one-half dozen pickers and the morning 
we where to commence, the rain poured down in torrents and did not hold 
up until about nine o'clock, the soil being sandy and so thorough- 
ly cultivated, when we went out to pick we found the berries 
covered with sand, instead of picking them in the quart boxes, I had 
them pick in pails, I got all the fanning mill sieves and racks and every 
thing that would do and placed them around the pump, and as fast as the 
pickers brought them in, we turned them out and drenched them with 
water, got off what sand we could. When we had finished picking, 
I learned that we had about forty minutes to make the only express train 
that would get our berries into Chicago for the next mornings market, 
while the man was getting the team and wagon ready every one on the 
place was doing all they could to get the berries packed into the crates 
and nailed up ready for shipment, when the team came the berries where 
dumped into the wagon on the double quick and off went Mike at the 
drop of the hat; he had just twenty minutes to drive one and a half miles, I 
told him to drive slow as he could, but make the train, I had nothing but a 
lumber wagon, but I had the best pair of hordes in the country; at a single 
chirrup they could make a cracker out of the tail board of a wagon. I did not 
have to ask Mike when he returned whether he had made the train, the 
color of the bottom boards of the box was sufficient proof, the second 
day after that I got a statement of my 17 cases of berries and check for 
56c. post marked Strawberry Jam seasoned with sand did not sell well 
in half bushel packages. I did better with my next shipment and had 
no trouble in getting them picked and put up in good shape, but the price 
was low and continued to be very low for two years. 

I knew of no other place to ship but Chicago, and came very near giv- 
ing up the business, but I thought I would try it one more season and 
see if I could not find some poiat where I could ship and do better. 

The next season just before my Strawberries commenced to get ripe, I 
got board of the cars and commenced to travel, stopping only at medium 
size towns, I was happily surprised, I found plenty of market for ten 
times the fruit I had. Every groceryman and fruit dealer I called on was 
glad to see me after I had made my business known, and ail assured me of 
good prices if I would send them my fruit. I had seven acres of Straw- 
berries that seasoQ ani when they cDmmenced to get rips, I commenced 
to ship to the parties as I had agreed. I did well with my Strawberry 
crop that season and have continued to, from that day to this. I had 
three acres of Red Raspberries that commenced bearing tliat season, and a 
few days after my Strawberries was out of the way, they came on and I 
commenced to ship them to the same parties that I had sent my Straw- 
berries to. I got 30c. per quart for the first shipments and the price did 
not get below 16c. that season. Having found an everlasting market, I 
commenced at once to put out more of all kinds, three years later I picked 
twenty -five acres of Strawberries, forty acres of Raspberries, twelve acres 
of Blackberries and 3000 baskets of Peaches and fully 90 per cent, of all 
T raised I shippei to country towns. I went out of the Raspberry 
business on account of not being able to get them picked, to-day I have 
on my place 6,500 Peach, 4,000 Apple, 400 Pear and 400 Plum and 



Cherry Trees, four acres of Grapes and fifty acres of Strawberries. 

As I have finished relating a birds-eye sketch of my first three years 
experience in the strawberry culture, I will now proceed to lay out my 
theories of how to 
DIG, 

PICK UP, 

HEEL IN, 

SET, 

CULTIVATE, 
PICK, 

TALLEY, 

PACK, 

MARKET. 
Having become thoroughly convinced that the mind of man was 
never intended for a bay to store away practically more than one thing 
at once and do justice to it, although having had much experience in grow- 
ing all kinds of fruit, [ shall confine my remarks wholly to the Straw- 
berry culture and shall endeavor to explain in as few words as possible 
HOW AND WHEN TO SET STRAWBERRY PLANTS. 

ALWAYS SET IN THE SPRING. 

First engage your plants sometime during the winter, and as soon as 
your ground will work good in the spring, the earlier the better, get it 
ready just as you would to raise a good piece of corn. Sod ground will 
not do unless it was turned under in August. Mark your ground only 
one way, three feet eight inches apart, the same as you would for a piece 
of corn AND YOUR GROUND IS READY. 

When your plants arrive and before you unpack themj^ou must plow 
a furrow to heel your plants in. If you have marked the ground length- 
wise and it is more than thirty rods long you should plow a furrow out 
at each end of the field so your plants will be handy for the droppers to 
get. Plow the furrows as close to the fence as good tillable ground will 
permit. A single furrow eight inches deep. Now unpack your plants 
and if they are tied up in bundles and prove to be in good order I should 
heel them in the bundles the whole length of these furrows. You will 
find the plants hurt in the center of the bundles if anywhere and the 
roots will be a brown color, should you find many of them in this con- 
dition, break open every package and scatter them in the bottom of these 
furrows covering them entirely over with dirt fully one-half inch deep. 

Do not press them down auy when you cover them or do not 
walk on iliem. 

Now your plants are secured and should it be hot, dry or stormy 
weather the following week or even ten days so you could not set them 
tJiey will be found in good order. 

Now you are ready to commence business any time the weather will 
permit and we will suppose you are setting a field of ten acres ; to make 
<iuick work of it you should have eight men to set and eight boys from 
ten to twelve years old to drop. Just at night and the day before you ex- 
pect your help take your team and plow and commence plowing out the 



trenches to set your plants in. Set your plow so it will run about four 
inches deep. Let your team straddle the marks you have made, and be 
quite particular to hold the plow so it will split the mark in the center. 
Commence on one side of the field and plow back and forth until you 
have furrows enough for your setters to make one round. The object in 
plowing these furrows out just at night is not only to have them ready 
when your help arrives in the morning but to prevent the trenches getting 
dry before the plants are set in them. You should have a basket that 
will hold about a peck, for the boys to drop out of, C use peach baskets, 
and if you haye broken open the bundles of plants and covered them 
with dirt you can use a three tine pitch fork to throw them out of the 
trench. Throw enough plants out to fill the droppers baskets full, let 
each take a row^ and drop the plants in the bottom of the furrow fifteen 
to twenty inches apart, the setter must get down on his knees to make 
easy work of it, pick up the plant with his left hand, that is if he is on a 
furrow where his left hand comes on the land side. Straighten the 
roots out with the right hand and with the left hand place the plant 
against the land side of the furrow with the roots hanging straight dow^n 
and with the right hand pull the dirt from the mold board side on to the 
roots. You have to make generally two strokes with the right hand to- 
get dirt enough. If the weather be warm and the sun is shining the 
dropper should not drop any faster than the setter can set them. Start 
your plow in time to have eight rows more plowed out by the time 
the sett;ers have finisher! the sixteen rows plowed out the night before, and 
if the sun is shining and the weather is dry the man that is holding the 
plow should govern himself entirel}" by the setters and not plow any 
faster than they can set them. If the ground is in good shape and the 
soil not too heavy, a good one-horse plow will bj sufficient. It make.* 
little easier work for the setters to use a one-horse plow. I sometimes 
put two horses on a one horse plow, it prevents it from dodging around. 

Two days with this number of hands will set ten acres; I have set 
fourteen acres with this help. When you have finished setting its a 
good idea to cultivate down all the rows where the plow has thrown the 
furrtiws together. 

Commence and cultivate this field just as you would a piece of corn, 
hoe when necessary, do not le t the weeds get the start of you, they 
should be cultivated as late as the first of October. I never cut off the 
runners, the cultivator w^ll throw them around into the rows and if they 
have done well you will have a matted row of strawberry vines by Nov. 
1st a foot wide. I generally hoe the first season three times and never 
after that, the work being all done with plow and cultivators until they 
are turnedunder. I generally pick a field five seasons. 

I find nothing better l« cultivate with than a two horse walking cul- 
tivator. Turn the two inside teeth so they will throw the dirt tow^ard 
the plants unto the shield, but not too much, drive very slow and hold 
your teeth so close together that the plant can barely pass through 
between the shields without pulling it up. By taking this course and 
starting your cultivator in time and repeating it as often as you see the 



weeds appear it will save fully one-half the hoeing. We never use the 
shields in cultivating after picking. To renovate an old patch that the 
cereal and white clover is about to run out, put in your two horse plow 
and turn three quarters of the row under and drag lengthwise corner- 
wise both ways and then crosswise. It should be done as soon as you 
get through picking, and the dragi^ing should be done when the ground 
is not too damp. The piece will have the appearance of being about 
used up when you get through, but nearly all the plants will straighten 
up af tei- a shower or two. They should be cultivated until fall. 

I always cultivate my Strawberries twiae in th3 spring before they 
blossom. However there is quite a diversity of opinion regarding this, 
there are not a few who claiai they are more liable to be struck with 
frost by bein? cultivated. I have tried both ways and I always get more 
fruit from those [ have cultivated even in the frosty seasons. 

Never mulch your plants with straw until you are satisfied there will 
be no more frost, it is a great benefit to mulch them a week or ten days 
before you commence to pick. After you have finished picking and the 
next day if convenient start your walking cultivator and cultivate them 
all over good, and about two weeks later cultivate them again. As we 
shall presume you will want to set more ground the coming spring and get 
your plants from this field it will not do to cultivate them any more this 
season. 

Now as you have been initiated and the back bone of the great dread 
people have, setting Strawberry plants having been over come ; you have 
got a field of Strawberries, we have called it ten acres, but suppose it was 
but one acre, you are now in condition to add to your acreage at a very 
small expense. You have your plants which is by far the heaviest expense, 
the labor required to set ten acres of Strawberries in not as expensive as 
the labor required to plant the same ground to corn five times, as in setting 
Strawberries, you only have to plow, harrow and work your ground once 
in five years ; after having cultivated your Strawberries the first season. 
There is not so much labor afterwards as there is to grow a good piece 
of corn every year. 

HOW TO DIG STRAWBERRY PLANTS 

so as not to expose the roots. As you are about to commence digging the 
plants from the ten acre field you have picked from one season, and as 
you will have abundance of plants we will presume you intend to set 
twenty acres, we have been using eight men and boys for help and be- 
ing usually about all the help that can readily be had by at least the ma- 
jority of farmers, we will continue with the same number of hands. 
Strawberry plants cannot be pulled up with the fingers without first 
loosening them. I have not dug my plants for years with any kind 
of a tool, I always pick them out of the ground. I first have them 
loosened, this work being done with a hoe by striking over the plant 
ihe same as you would to dig them entirely out of the ground and 
pull the plant with all the dirt around it a little toward you 3 or 4 inches, 
strike over the next plant and pull that back where you took the first plant 
from, when you get through loosening the plants your ground will show 



somewhat broken, but an3^body not posted would ever surmise what it 
was done for, as your plants look about as natural as they did before you 
commenced digging, especially if you do not pick them up for two or three 
days after they have been loosened, the ground will settle around them 
and look almost natural, you will find they can be picked up out of the 
ground just as easy and fast, and the diggers will get over nearly twice the 
gi'ound they will, to throw them out on top of the ground, they will do 
it as fast as they can strike with the hoe and when you pick them from 
the ground into the basket you save one exposure. Proceed to loosen 
all the plants you think you will need, in this way, be sure and dig 
enough while you are at it, oetter throw away a load of plants than to 
take your help back to dig after you have commenced to set. It takes 
about 7,000 plants to set an acre. A bushel basket holds 400 plants and 
by picking up one row you can judge very close when you have enough 
loosened. Now if the weather looks favorable for you to commence 
picking up the next day, have your boys come on, that are going to 
do the dropping and help pick up the plants. I use bushel baskets. Let 
a man and boy pick two rows together, in one basket, as you are picking 
up sixteen rows, let your team and wagon with top box on straddle 
the t^ighth row and follow close to the pickers so the wagon will be 
handy for them to empty their plants in. If the sun is shining you 
should have two teams to receive plants and also have a canvas or blanket 
to spread over the wagon to shade the plants while being drawn to the 
field. If the weather is favorable one team can do the business, while 
the team is gone to unload the pickers can throw their plants into 
piles and when the team returns the teamster can throw them into the 
wagon in very few minutes with a three tine fprk. Now you are supposed 
to have your ground that you are going to set the plants in already and 
marked, with the trench or furrow plowed out close to the fence to heel 
your plants in the same as we did in the first piece we set. The man that 
is drawing the plants should use a three tine pitchfork to unload them. 
Drive close to the trench and pitch them in, if the rows that you are go- 
ing to set are thirty rods long the trench should be filled nearly full of 
plants, and as fast as the trench is filled with plants they should be cov- 
ered with dirt, half or three quarters of an inch deep, which can be done 
best with a hoe. A boy can do the covering as fast as the plants can be 
pitched into the trench. 

After you have got your plants heeled in, proceed to set as before 
described. This is how one man and boy can handle and heel in wagon 
loads of plants in a day, they can handle them about as fast as they can 
manure. I have handled my plants this way for eight years with per- 
fect satisfaction. Where you have your whole force picking up and 
out of the ground, they are being piled on top of one another so 
fast into tlie basket and wagon and being handled with a pitchfork to 
lieel them in and covered immediately, there is really little or not chance 
for improvement. Having given you the key that unlocks the successful 
theory of how to dig Strawberry plants so as not to expose the roots and 
how one man and boy can transport one-half million of Strawberry plants 



in a day from one field to another and heel them in. I will now proceed 
to explain how to build cheap packing house or shanty as we call them, 
it being the next thing in order, something that is indispensable to a 
large berry grower, twelve by eighteen is the size I always make, it being 
large enough for a ten acre field of Strawberries, two shanties will be re- 
quired if the field contains more than ten acres. I take three, two by 
four scantling, twelve feet long, saw one end of each piece square, lay 
them on the ground six feet apart, spike a two by four flatways on the 
squared end for a plate, then dig three holes six feet apart where you 
want the centre of your shanty two feet deep, raise this bent up and set 
the scantling into the holes so that the plate will be level, then take three 
more two by four, twelve feet long and saw them in the middle, spike on 
the plates as before and set them on top of the ground nine feet from the 
centre bent either side, stay with strips tacked to the centre bent, then 
put a roof board on each corner or side of the roof, the boards will spring- 
down in the middle and will require another support, as a door three feet 
wide is needed at each corner of the shanty we set this centre support 
three feet from the end bent which acts not only as a stud to support the 
roof, but also comes just right to use twelve foot lumber in boarding up 
the sides. In putting up the two by four to support the centre of roof 
boards, spike it on to the door studs edge ways and on the side towards 
the centre of shanty. Now procceed to cover the roof with stock boards 
twelve feet long, running up and down. As we have plenty of pitch to 
our roof it will do to spread the first tier of boards four inches apart and 
cover the openings with the same kind of lumber, the same will 
do to board up the sides without squaring either end. 1000 feet 
of one by twelve boards twelve feet long will build a shanty. You 
want a counter to pack your berries on which should be made across one 
end of the shanty just back of the doors, this will give the pickers a space 
of three feet which is plenty of room to enter one door, take out their 
berries unto the counter and pass out the other door. Make your counter 
two feet wide, this will give you a room twelve by twelve to store your 
crates, pack, nail and mark your berries. Some berry growers 
would tell you to take a few boards, lay one end on the ground 
and the other on a high fence will answer. I will admit that this 
kind of a building will do very well for a man that can cover all the ber- 
ries he has picked during the day with an umbrella. But a grower that 
picks several hundred cases in a day needs a good well built shanty. 
More damage can be <ione in twenty minutes in a heavy storm than it would 
cost to build twenty such buildings. Three men will build one complete 
in one-half day, I have six of them on my farm. 

Now before I explain now to proceed to pick and handle a crop o( 
Strawberries, number of pickers required per acre and help necessary to 
watch ihe pickers, tally, nail and mark. I will first explain my new in- 
vention for tallying berry pickers, worth |100, 00 to any large berry grow- 
er after useing it five years, three times the amount would not prevent me 
from having it. I have illustrated it here in full size so you can take 
this book to any printer and have them made, it should be made on good 



■^ILLUSTRATION OF TICKET.^ 
Actual Size. 



" NAME OF PICKER. 





2 

4/2 . 


9 


6 


6 


4 




2 

9 


18 


6 


12 


4 




2 

13 i4 


27 


6 


18 


4 




2 

18 


36 


6 


24 


4 




2 

•22 H 


45 


6 


30 


4 




2 

27 


54 


6 


36 


4 




2 

31^/2 


63 


6 


42 


4 




2 

36 


72 


6 


48 


4 




2 

40 ^^ 


81 


6 


54 


4 




2 

45 


90 


6 


60 


4 




2 

49'/2 


99 


6 


66 


4 




2 

54 


108 


6 


72 


4 




2 

58V3 


117 


6 


78 


4 




2 

63 


126 


6 


84 


4 




2 
671/2 


135 


6 


90 


4 




2 

72 


144 


6 


96 


4 




2 
761/2 


153 


6 


102 


4 




2 

81 


162 


6 


108_ 
114 


4 




2 

85^4 


171 


6 


4 




2 

90 


179 


6 


120 


4 




2 

941 2 


189 


6 


126^ 
132 


4 




2 

99 


198 


6 


4 




2 

1031/2 


207 


6 


138 


4 




2 

108 


216 


6 


144 


4 




2 




6 




4 



112! 



225 



NOT NEGOTIABLE. 



O 



'^-o.sinx'i:^; 



\ 



strong tag paper. The advantag-es in useiiig this for tallying berry pick- 
ers over all others are almost numberless. First when you give the 
tickets out, it is quite important that you should put the pickers name on 
their tickets, as when a picker has agreed to pick for you until the season 
is over, they cannot cut up any mean trick and sell their ticket to some 
of the other berry pickers and run away. It holds them right to their 
contract. "No Dodging," and then again it benefits the pickers if any 
of them loose their ticket in the field, a circumstance that happens almost 
hourly, the finder can have no object in keeping it. The pickers should 
put a string through the eyelet and tie the ticket to a button hole in their 
clothes, where it will be handy to punch every time they come to the 
shanty with berries. T assure you it is the most practical ticket ever used 
for the purpose. In this State we have three size carriers for the pickers 
to carry their boxes in, four, six and eight quarts and when a picker 
brings in any number of quarts, we punch out a figure or figures on the 
ticket that corresponds with the number of quarts. Commence at the top 
of the ticket to punch and do not skip any figures. The person useing 
the punch should be a little particular and not deface the money 
colum. When a picker has picked his ticket full, give him another, 
but do not take the old one up, let them all carry their tickets until pay 
day. You must have a punch made of ycur own design, especially if 
you reside where your pickers can visit railroad conductors. Cost 12 00 
to $8.00. 

To pay off place a table by a window in your barn or house and take 
as many plates as you have denominations of money, turn your silver 
out into them, call up one picker at a time, take up the check, figure them 
up wliich can be done in a moment, pay him off, call up another. I paid 
150 pickers last season $640 in less time than two and one -half hours. 
Had I been useing the old tickets it would have taken me two days, 
and with so much complication hence more liable to mistake. 

HELP REQUIHED TO TICK AND HANDLE TWENTY ACRES OF STRAWBERRIES. 

As r always depend on country towns for my market, especially 
when there is a full crop of berries, and as grocery dealers must have them 
every day in order to supply their demands, I always make calculation to 
pick one -half of my ground every other day, which would require about 
fifty pickers, some would say thirty would be quite plenty, but I would 
prefer fifty to thirty. In fact to m man that has the berries, it is one of 
the most essential points in the business, first plenty of pickers, second 
plenty of markets. As we have decided to pick one half of the field every 
day and use fifty pickers, one man can take charge of them, it will require 
one person that you can depend on to punch the tickets, one man to pack 
the berries and one to nail and help pack when he can, when you 
are picking your largest pickings, it will require two to pack. Now 
presuming that you have ordered your crates, stored them in 
your shanties, all you can of them, left room enough to commence 
business having ordered your carriers that the pickers use to carry their 
boxes that they pick in, we are ready to commence picking as soon as 
the deio dimppears. The carriers can be had at a small expense, where 



you get your crates, and the northern crate manufacturing towns are 
St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, of Mich., Geo. E. Smith and A. W. 
Wells & Co., of St. Joseph, and Ingham, Leslie & Co., of Benton Harbor, 
all reliable firms. 

Now supposing the pickers have all got their tickets, and their carri- 
ers filled with boxes and the dew has disappeared ; I call on my pickers 
and give each one a row, but before I allow them to pick a berry, I step 
out before them, it being just as essential to have pickers at the latter end 
of the season as at the commencement, and as I want, they should all 
hear what i Lave to say, I hallow at the top of my voice: Berry Pick- 
ers, attention, I wish to say before we commence picking, that I shall 
pay the highest price paid by all large berry growers for picking berries, 
this season. It being just as essential to have pickers the latter part of 
the season as at the commencement, I wish to have it plainly understood 
that I shall expect every picker i)resent to be here every day necessary to 
pick berries, until we have finished for this season, I shall further expect 
every picker to endeavor to pick all the ripe berries on their rows, and 
only those that are ripe, and pick their rows from end to end; under no 
circumstances whatever leave your row unfinished, and when you go to the 
shanty with yoar berries always make a mark of some kind, that you may 
know when you return where you left off. You must pick your boxes 
rounding full and take pains to top them out with the finest and largest 
berries. The tally man has strict orders to tally no picker until they have 
complied with this rule. I wish to say further in regard to eating, as ber- 
ries are very scarce and high, it is rulable not to eat any until after the 
third picking when I shall have no objection to your eating all you wish. 
Now if there are any here that thiuk they cannot conform to these rules 
you will oblige by leaving your carriers at the shanty. 

You will find this a very essential piece to speak before you com- 
mence picking. As when berries get scarce long towards the last pick- 
ings, they will make all kinds of excuses, your .contract being made in 
the presence of all of them there is no dodging. It is the duty of the man 
that takes charge of the pickers to see that they pick all the ripe berries, 
and only those that are ripe, see that they pick their rows through and 
that no rows are left unpicked. It will not do to let your pickers skip 
along and leave many ripe berries as they will be too ripe for the next 
shipment and it will be impossible to prevent them from being picked, 
and you may be sure of unfavorable returns. It is the duty of the person 
that punches the tickets not totally only those that have their boxes well 
filled up with good sound berries. It is the duty of the packers to care- 
fully pack the boxes into the crates, not too full, and plenty full enough, 
and to put the boxes that have the finest and largest fruit on the top tier. 
It is the duty of the person that nails the crate ■*, to lay the cover on care- 
fully, right where it should be nailed and not move it afterwards, and 
drive his chair nail as light as possible, and when he sets the crate away 
to handle it carefully. Discharge any man that handles a crate of berries 
rough the second time he does it. 

As I have described the duty of everv one necessary to carry on the 



business, except the boss, I will now proceed to lay out his work, having oc- 
cupied that position fourteen years myself. I can assure him and I think 
he will bear me out in the assertion after he has occupied the position for 
a couple of years, that it is easier put on paper than done. It is the duty 
of the boss to take a daily paper from tne first of April until he gets 
through picking berries. Object, so as to know what portion of the 
country Jack Frost has niped in the bud, also it is very important that he 
should keep posted on the daily receipt and market price in large cities. 
In the state of Michigan spring frosts are about the only enemy we have 
to contend with, which usually happens between May 5th, and 18th, 
while the berries are in blossom, and no man can form any idea where to 
look for the best market until the frosty seasons are over. If the frost 
has been pretty general and has killed one half of your crop, you need 
not be the least concerned about finding a market, they will all be want- 
ed at high prices. Large cities will be your market, and a boy eighteen 
years old can handle your whole crop, so far as the shipping is concern- 
ed, but when the frost has only struck in local spots and only a few at 
that, you may rest assured that all large cities like Chicago. St. Louis, 
Cincinnatti, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, will be glutted with berries 
and just at the very time when you are making your largest pickings, just 
at the yery time when eight cents per quart, would be worth more to you 
than $20.00 per bushel would be for the first two or three shipments, and 
unless you make preparations to evade these markets you can depend up- 
on it that your return will not be very satisfactory. While at the very 
time there are plenty ot small places that are actually starving for straw- 
berries. 

It is a ver}'- simple problem to solve why this is so. The Commission 
Houses in all large cities are very anxious to receive large consignments, 
it means ten per cent, to them, and they keep the farmer and berry grow- 
er well supplied with stencils and all the tools necessary to ship then- 
fruit to them, and they not only keep out their runners soliciting consign- 
ments, but as another inducement, they deposit their money almost at the 
farmer's door in advance so that he may be sure of getting what little 
money is coming to him. I will venture to make the assertion that fully 
90 per cent, of all the berries grown in the state of Michigan are consign- 
ed to commission houses in large cities. The price most always being- 
satisfactory for the first three or four pickings, (just when they have no 
fruit to speak of) they continue, tlie market begins to break under its 
heavy receipts, he knows of no other market that is better, it is too late 
to try to find one, he is compelled to continue let the consequences be 
what they may. These are undisputed facts, and no berry grower will 
deny it. Now if every farmer or berry grower that possesses an acre or 
more of straw^berries, as soon as he can determine that, we are to have 
a full crop, or three-fourths of a crop, will proceed at once to find a 
market for a portion of his fruit outside of the large cities— say one ■ 
half of his crop. I shall always try to find a market for all of my fruit 
outside of large cities when there is a full crop. 

Now, suppose all the Fruit growers would make calculations in time 



to ship one-half of their crop to outside points, small towns ; just think 
for a moment what a wonderful effect it would have on Chicago's naarket, 
and the market of all large towns of ten to thirty thousand population, 
that Chicago and all other large cities use for their dumping ground 
when in the midst of an over-stocked market. 

The commission men are compelled to send your berries broad- 
cast over the country in order to get back the money they have 
invested in freights. Why will you continue year after year sending your 
fruit to a market that you know will bring you no satisfactory return? 
Remember, three-fourths of Chicago's receipts of Strawberries are pur- 
chased by large buyers, who make it their business to supply small country 
towns. Now, if these buyers can purchase your fruit of your commission 
house and reship it to small places and make a profit — and I guarantee you 
they make a good big profit, or they would not be engaged in the bus- 
iness—why not arm yourself with the necessary tools to find places, and 
plenty of them where there is a market for all ; yes, three times the entire 
strawberry product of to-day. 

There is nothing produced on the farm that will pay over one-fifth a& 
much as a good berry crop of any kind, excepting peaches, if the pro- 
ducer is posted where to find a market. It is the duty of the boss to arm 
himself with all the necessary information to find these markets. As I 
have said before, take a daily paper, and if you find any location that 
has been nipped in the bud note it down. (You need not advertise it !) 
and you may be quite sure when ever you read a report that the straw- 
berry crop has been nipped in the bud in any locality— that there are 
plenty of towns around that locality that have been nipped also, and yoii 
should have a book that contains a map of the state and all the towns in 
the state with their population, so you can trace out on the map any town 
near this ( ? ) country you wish to find, the book is so constructed 
that you can turn instantly to the town and find its population. The book 
only costs 25 cents per state, and every grower should have a book for 
each state that he is liable to ship to. I will furnish them to you by mail 
post paid, on receipt of 30 cents; They are indispensible to any fruit grower. 
One-hnlf bushel crate of berries sent into a frost-bitten country will pay 
for one dozen of them. 

Now, instead of going to the expense of paying your fare on the cars 
as I did to find a market, write a letter to the express agent and inclose a 
postal card for his answer to any town you desire, ask him to send you 
the names of two or three responsible grocery dealers that handle fruit, 
and they will always reply prompt. I should write to no less than thirty 
towns to make sure of a good market for twenty acres of strawberries, 
and as soon as you commence to get answers you should write immedi- 
ately to the grocery dealers. It being very essential that you get the 
desired information, I will write a copy of the letter I have used for 
years. 



LETTER. 
Dear Sir : 

I have twenty acres of Strawberries that look very fine and 
promising at present, and as near as I can judge I shall commence picking 
them about June. . . .st. If you have made no arrangements with others 
to supply you, I should be pleased to ship to you on commission. If you 
think you can handle them to good advantage for me, please state about 
the quantity you think you can handle daily. Also, will you please in- 
form me whether you have much of a home crop this season, what time 
will they commence to ripen, and were they hurt any by frost. I shall 
pick my berries every day the weather will permit. 

An early reply will greatly oblige, 

Respectfully yours, 

I would suggest that when you write this letter, that in noting 
the time you think you will be able to commence picking ; always make 
it two or three days later than you expect, as you may want to ship your 
first pickings to some other place where you know the market is very high 
and will only hold up for a day or two. When you commence to receive 
answers from these letters you must record the names, town and state, and 
quantity he thinks he can handle. If a home crop, when will they be 
ready to pick, and how bad they were hurt by frost, if any. Keep each 
state by itself in a book, so you can turn to it instantly when you are 
marking your crates. It is a reference you will turn to many times every 
day you are engaged in shipping your fruit. 

When you commence shipping you will necessarily commence with 
small shipments to each one, and you should write to each consignee and 
ask them to post you daily ; it is my advice, and in fact a rule I have 
adopted years ago, if I do not hear from a man that I am shipping to after 
the third shipment and before I make the fourth. I cut him off until I do 
hear from him. I write all of them to use tlie wire at my expense anytime 
they think it to my advantage. Make arrangement with a boy to carry 
your dispatches, go to the office as many times in a day as there are mail 
trains, and after you have all the information, you can proceed to 
make out your slate to mark off your berries. Do not be confined to any 
one or two states, or even three ; ship where you can find the best market, 
there is no trouble in sending good hard berries 800 miles away, I should 
not hesitate to double the distance if the wx'ather was cool, I have shipped 
Red Raspberries the most perishable fruit we handle to Omaha, a dis- 
tance of 560 miles with good success in the month of July. 

Do not commence to mark until you are obliged to, as you can't tell 
which way the wind may blow from, you are liable to get a dispatch from 
one saying do not ship any more berries and from another send 50 bushels. 
Market $10.00, keep your eye peeled. Be ready to make hay while the 
sun shines, it is only a matter of three weeks, draw a fine bead over all your 
employees and if you can contrive any way to be at the Post and Tele- 
graph office, in your berry shanty and out among your berry pickers all 
at the same time. It will be no detriment to the business, I can't say 
positive however as I never could quite get there. 



Keep all your telegraph dispatches and correspondence that you re 
ceive from the men that you are shipping to, especially those that quote 
the price, they may be important, try and get every man that you are 
shipping to, to quote the price he is geting daily, if you can. Here mark 
the most important point in the whole business, about the third day after 
you have finished picking, write to every man that owes you for berries, 
as follows 

Dear Sir: I am greatly in need of money and you will do me a 
great favor by remitting all my due at once, if not convenient to send 
all, send what you can with Statement by return mail. 

Respectfully Yours. 

The money part is not so essential as the statement, as you may be 
quite sure every man that you have shipped to through the advice of the 
express agent is good, but do not let any of them rest until you get a 
statement from all, after waiting a reasonable time for an answer, all that 
are hanging fire, write them again and if you get no reply, I would advise 
you if the amount due will warrant you to take the first train and surprise 
them with a call, you will not have many, I think a half of one per cent, 
will cover all the loss I have made in fourteen years and all the losses I 
ever made was through my negligence in not getting a statement in proper 
time and the proper time is just as soon as you get through shipping, 
while it is fresh in his mind that he has sold you berries for so much per 
quart and that he has not forgotten that he has quoted the price to you 
several times and that you are posted on what he has sold for. I repeat 
it again get a statement from all you have consigned your fruit to just as 
soon as you can 

I have forgotten to say that grocery dealers do not charge any more 
commisssion than commission men do in large cities, 10 per cent, is the 
rule. 

I have said on the first pages of my book, had I known when I com- 
menced in the fruit business what I can tell you now, I could have accom- 
plished more in five years than I have in fourteen. Now I have as it seems 
to me, laid down almost every step that a beginner is required to take to set, 
pick, market and cultivate a field of Strawberries ; it is not necessary for 
you to commence the business on so small a scale as is recommended in 
all the Agricultual Journals. If you can spare the money to purchase the 
plants to set ten acres you need not hesitate in the least to do so, if you 
think you have the ability to follow the direction laid down in this 
book, I guarantee that you will not fail. Any farmer that is capable of fit- 
ing a piece of corn ground so that it will produce a good crop of corn 
and capable of taking care of it as it should be done, can grow Straw- 
berries successfully. 

I can dig the plants on my own ground and set ten acres of Straw- 
berries, hire the laborers, all done less than $5.00 per acre, the average yield 
of Strawberries is about 100 bushels to the acre, I have not failed in ten 
years to make them net me $100,00 per acre, in 1882 they netted very nearly 
16c. per quart, 1883, lUc. per quart and last season I shipped 1200 bushels 
netting 9c. 



With a little good advice, I shall close, while I must admit that the 
demand for Strawberries, has wonderfully increased and no doubt will 
continue, and has been the Queen of Fruits with me at least to make 
money out of. I would not advise any farmer to undertake to raise grain 
and fruit, I have no good reason why they should not be worked together, 
only those that have tried it have generally made both a failure; as to the 
best kind of soil, I will say sandy soil is by all means the most natural 
for Strawberries, they can be grown for one-third less money than they 
can on heavy soil. 

White Clover and Sorrel are deadly enemies if allowed to grow, while 
here in this locality we have neither to contend with. In fact I think this 
locality a favored one for all kinds of fruit, all succeed remarkably well and 
when they have a crop of Peaches anywhere, we have them here. Being 
located on the east sbore of Lake Michigan, we are exempt from deadly frost 
and being within the sound of the whistles of two great railroad thoroug- 
f ares and the crafty steamers that glide the blue waters of Lake Michigan. 
We arc favored with all the facilities for cheap transportation the world 
affords. This being comparatively a new country and at the price land 
can be purchased at now, I will venture to make the assertion that any 
energetic man can pay for all the land he will buy and set to Straw- 
berries out of the third crop. 

Wishing you the best of success. I am Respectfully Yours, 

M. O. SMITH. 

Although having said I should confine my remarks wholly to the 
strawberry, for the benefit of those inexperienced, I will inform them: 



HOW TO SET RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES 
AND GRAPES. 

I set Raspberries and Blackberries six feet apart each way. I mark 
my ground one way with a marker, and the other way with a two horse 
plow, using three stakes to plow by, so as to have my furrows straight. 
I commence to set as soon as the plow is started, I set my plant in the 
middle of the furrow and where the mark crosses the furrow, no line or 
stakes to set by are needed. If you have made your marks straight the 
rows will be as near in line both ways, as though they were set by the 
most acurate device. One can drop the roots for two or three to set. 
The setters should use shovels or a hoe, either will do, as in nine cases 
out of ten the furrow has made all the hole that is necessary, they can be 
set very fast, it is a good idea to throw a shovel full of the top soil in the 
bottom of tite furrow to set the plant on, also to use the top soil for 
covering, it takes but a trifle longer and you will be well paid for the 
extra time To cultivate, start your walking cultivator just the same as 
you did on your young Strawberries, when they get up and begin to 
.spread, use your one horse cultivator or double shovel, with whiftletree 



not over eighteen inches long, sixteen inches is better, when the main 
shoots to the raspberries have grown two feet high, go over the whole 
patch and pinch them back. I mean by this, break or cut off one 
half an inch off the top of all shoots that are two feet high, and about 
a week later more will appear and you will have to go over them again. 
i usually pinch them back about four times. This will cause side shoots 
or laterals as they are called, to be thrown oat in great numbers, that is 
if you have cultivated them as often as you should. When these laterals 
appear and are about two feet long which will be about four weeks later, 
to produce a strong, stocky, hardy bush, should be pinched off. I always do 
this with a long bladed knife made for the purpose, a butcher knife will 
do. Red raspberry plants grow up from the roots around the old vines. 
Handle the laterals of your black raspberries in the same way, unless 
you wish to raise plants. To raise black raspberry plants, let the laterals 
grow, in most of soils they will grow to the ground and take root themselves 
but to insure a large quantity of plants you should throw a shovel full of 
dirt on all the tips, cut out the old wood of the Dlack raspberry the next 
spring after picking. The old wood in the red raspberry may be t iken out 
as soon as you have finished picking or the following spring, as you prefer. 
(Cultivate your raspberries thoroughly both ways, until you have made a 
good strong large bush,) put two forks full of manure around the roots of 
each vine the last of October. The next spring cultivate them nearly up to 
picking time, and 1 will say you are just about as sure of a good big income 
as water is sure to run down hill. Do not spend your time putting out a 
dozen of this and that variety, while you are doing this you can set out a 
good large field jf one kind of the old and reliable varieties that never 
have failed. Let those experiment that have money. 



BLACKBERRIES. 

I set blackberries the same as I do rasi)berries, and handle and cultivate 
them the same, only they should not be pinched back until the main stalks 
get three feet high, cut the laterals off the same as you do the red rasp- 
berry. If I was going to set a very large field of black raspberries or black- 
berries I should plow my furrows to set eight foot apart and set the plants 
three and one half feet apart in the rows. You cannot cultivate them but 
one way, but it allows you to drive through them with you wagon to mulch 
and carry out the old brush. 



TO SET GRAPES, 

I plow a trench both ways, six feet apart one way, and eight feet the 
other, as the roots of grapes sometimes are quite long I find by running the 
plow both ways it saves a good deal of digging, there being four ways or 
furrows that you can lay out the long roots in without digging. The first 
year let all shoots grow, the second year they should be all trimmed off but two 
and they should be cut back to about two and one half feet long, the third 



year in he sprmg they should be staked, we use seasoned oak stakes two by 
two inches wide and four feet long, sharpened and diped into hot coal tar 
about eighteen inches up (it pays,) they will last a number of years we 
use generally but one stake to a vine, to hold the vine to the stake, we lake 
old boots, or pieces of leather can be had at any shoemaker shop, cut them 
up into one half inch strips and five to six inches long, lap them around the 
vine and use a number twelve tack, it holds them solid. The best time to 
trim grapes is in the fall after two or three hard frosts. I trim off all the 
new wood back usually to one bud. Having no home market for grapes and 
there being no markets outside of large cities but what are generally sup- 
plied by home growers and the price always being as a general thing very low 
in all large cities, I never could make any money out of my grapes 



FOLDING 



BAWIFfe 




soDvcETiEiinsro zn-^i-vsti 



U. S. PAT. JUO 11, 18S4. 



CANADA PAT. DEC. 1, 1884, 



Folds complete as a Pocket-knife. 

Easily carried. Weight 41 lbs. 

One man can saw down trees practical and easy. 

Warranted. Tliorou^hly tested. 

7i Cords have been sawed by one man in 9 hours. We have plenty 
of Proof of this. 

li Cords have been sawed in an hour by one man. 

We have volumes of letters from men that have machines stating 
that ihey are averaging 5 cords per day. 

It is just what every farmer wants. 

Send for large poster circular and testimonials free. 
Address, 



FOIDWKJ SAWIBIG MACHIfllE CO., 

55 South Canal Street, CHICAGO 



